Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article includes the name and image of a deceased person.
The remains of a 40-year-old Indigenous woman will be cremated after a family dispute left her body in “legal limbo” in a morgue for almost four years.
The body of Central Coast woman Debbie-Lee Gill has been held at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle since she died in January 2021 as a result of the long-running disagreement which came to an end in the New Wales Supreme Court of the South on Friday.
The New South Wales coroner determined suicide was the cause of death at the time.
A long dispute over the treatment of Ms Gill’s remains followed her death, fought between her biological family and Leslie Speeding.
Mr. Speeding claimed to have been the “de facto spouse” and “elderly relative” of Ms. Gill, news.com.au reported.
Mr Speeding wanted to bury the Wiradjuri woman, but her family wanted her to be cremated.
In typical circumstances, a NSW hospital will hold a body for up to 21 days, but makes provision for exceptional circumstances.
Debbie-Lee Gill’s remains to be cremated after lying in a mortuary since her death
The NSW Supreme Court ruled on the dispute last week and ordered Ms Gill’s body to be cremated.
Judge Geoff Lindsay said the argument had gone on too long and handed down his decision.
“(It’s) leaving the body of the deceased in a cold room, personal animosity boiling and the public treasury diminished by the costs of all this,” he said.
He ruled in favor of the birth family because he discovered that Speeding did not have enough money to bury Gill.
He said the family’s decision to take the dispute to court at their own expense showed they would act quickly to cremate Ms Gill’s body as the logistics of the matter favored them.
“I am not sure that (Mr Speeding) could reasonably be expected to have the resources or the will to arrange a burial, let alone a funeral,” Judge Lindsay said.
He also ruled that the family would act quickly and cremate Ms Gill within two months.
Gill’s sister Cathy-May said the years after his death had been a haunting experience.
Ms Gill’s body has been stored in cold storage since her death in 2021, while a family dispute raged.
“It takes a huge toll. “My parents have aged like 100 years in the last three damn years,” he told ALPHABET.
‘I think we’ve all been on autopilot every day, a little bit of the time.
“She had her own daughter cremated, so it wasn’t like she was against cremation, and then we all realized that those were her wishes, to be placed with Angel.”
Gill’s fourth child, Angel, was stillborn in 1999.
Mrs Gill is survived by her son and two daughters.
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